If asked to name the most entertaining and best-loved
Australian band of
the early '70s, it's a fair bet that most young people who lived
through that period would nominate The Captain Matchbox Whoopee Band.
This crazily brilliant Melbourne-based ensemble played a uniquely
Aussie brand of jug-band blues, spiced with jazz, swing, popular
standards, cabaret, sideshow alley schtick and vaudeville routines
including slapstick, tap dancing, juggling, magic and even fire-eating.

An obvious and common comparison would be England's Bonzo Dog
Doo Dah Band, but it would be quite wrong to label Matchbox as mere
copyists -- in fact Mic Conway has said that didn't hear the Bonzos
until long after Captain Matchbox
had been formed. The Conway brothers were born into a family with
strong background in music and popular entertainment, particularly
vaudeville theatre and opera -- their grandfather was an original
vaudevillean, and their Aunt Lyla was a dancer on the famed Tivoli
circuit.

As related in the documentary film The Jim Conway
Blues, Mic and Jims father (a wool buyer) tried to dissuade
his children from the uncertainty of a musical career, to no avail. The
greasepaint obviously ran in the veins of his illustrious scions; as
well as Mic and Jims well-known exploits, their sister Janie is also a
noted musician whose credits including the late '70s Melbourne new wave
band Stiletto with Jane Clifton.

As teenagers at Melbournes Camberwell High School, Mic and
Jim formed the forerunner to Matchbox, The Jellybean Jug Band and
entered the school's annual talent quest "for a laugh" but they
annihilated the competition, as this former CHS student recalls:

"I remember standing in the packed gym,
watching the Jelly Bean Jug Band -- with Mic on ukelele, washboard and
the whisky keg (filled with jelly beans which were thrown at the
audience after the performance! Jim played the kazoo and harmonica (and
later became Australia's best proponent of that instrument) The whole
gym erupted into cheers when they won the event ... we all knew they
were talented and SO different. Jug band music in 1969 was a new sound
to us. When they evolved later into Captain Matchbox, their first
album, Wangaratta Wahine was the most popular LP
around. It was everywhere. I still treasure my copy.

After high school Mic and Jim founded their first professional
band, The Captain Matchbox Whoopee Band, which centred throughout its
life on the Conway brothers. Their inspirations came from their family
background in vaudeville, and in particular from Mics fascination with
the family collection of vintage 78rpm records of music by Fats Waller,
Jelly Roll Morton and other classics of jazz, swing and hot music. In a
recent interview with the Sydney Morning Herald, Mic also named
American satirical composer Tom Lehrer as one of his musical idols.

Probably the very first film of the band's in its earliest
days (which was featured in the Jim Conway documentary) was captured on
film by their neighbour and fellow CHS student Chris Lofven, who went
on to be a pioneer of Australian music video. Chris is well known for
the classic film-clips he made for Spectrums "I'll Be Gone" and Daddy
Cool's "Eagle Rock " in 1971, and directed the cult road 1976 movie Oz.
These wonderful images of the original Captain Matchbox were taken from
Chris Lofven's experimental short film 806,
which also includes priceless footage of Sons of the Vegetal Mother,
Myriad and Quinn. Happily, this long-unseen short is now available as a
bonus feature on the DVD edition of Oz.

Captain Matchbox emerged at a time when there was a vogue for
these styles and they were contemporary with similar local acts such as
The 69-ers, Starving Wild Dogs, The Original Battersea Heroes, The
Gutbucket Blues Band, The Stovepipe Spasm Band and The Moonshine Jug
and String Band (which later evolved into The Angels). Billed as
Australias loudest jug band, the unique, irreverent Matchbox style was
a hit on the theatrically inclined Melbourne underground scene and they
became a regular attraction at venues like the TF Much Ballroom and
the Thumpin' Tum,
alongside acts such as Spectrum,
Daddy Cool and Jeff Crozier.

Their popularity with so-called head audiences was doubtless
enhanced by their repertoire, which was liberally spiked with covers of
classic jazz and blues numbers that contained thinly-veiled dope
references -- songs like "Smoke Dreams", "If Youse A Viper", "That Cat
Is High" and
"My Canary Has Circles Under His Eyes".

Their first mainstream exposure came through an appearance in
Tim Burstall's 1971 film Stork,
starring Bruce Spence and Jackie Weaver. During the year they also
performed in Sydney at The
Yellow House, the famous multimedia gallery/performance space
set up by artist Martin Sharp, which operated during 1970-71.

The band signed to Image
Records in 1972 and issued their debut single "My Canary Has Circles
Under His Eyes", which was a Top 40 hit in Melbourne in November.
During the year a brief snippet of their TF Much Ballroom act
(performing "Who Walks Out When I Walk In") was captured (in colour) by
film maker Peter Weir in his short documentary Three
Directions In Australian Pop Music, which also
featured performances by Spectrum
and Wendy Saddington &
Teardrop. Matchbox also featured in an episode of GTK, where
they were interviewed by reporter Jeune Pritchard and gave a
live-in-the-studio performance of "Mobile Line".

In June-July of 1972 Captain Matchbox supported folk legend Phil Ochs on his
first tour of Australia. Their next single "I Can't Dance (Got Ants in
My Pants)" / "Jungle Dance" was released in April 1973 and their debut
album Smoke Dreams was released in June. The album
was comprised entirely of 1930s and 1940s jazz, blues and jug-band
standards. The lineup for these recordings was Mic (vocals, washboard,
ukelele), Jim (harmonica, kazoo, vocals), Dave Hubbard (guitar), Peter
Inglis (guitar, vocals), Peter Scott (tea chest bass), Mick Fleming
(banjo, mandolin, guitar, vocals) and Jim Niven (piano, pedal organ).

Image also arranged a reciprocal deal with the American ESP
label, whereby ESP released Smoke Dreams in the
USA, while Image released the LP Godzundheit by
American band The Godz. The ESP version of Smoke
Dreams was also remixed and released in the then newfangled Quadraphonic
audio format, and this version of this LP is evidently now something of
a collector's item for Quad fanatics.

Sometime during 1973 Image also released an Captain Matchbox
EP, entitled Matchbox Madness. By this time the EP
had all but died out as a viable format for pop-rock releases, and the
paucity of information about it suggests that it is now quite rare, and
probably a valuable collector's item. If anyone can tell us more about
it, or provide a tracklisting and/or a photo of the cover, we'd love to
hear from you!

By November 1973 the line-up had changed to the Conway
brothers, Jimmy Niven and Mick Fleming with new members Geoff Hales,
Fred Olbrei and Dave Flett (ex-Lipp and The Double Dekker Brothers,
Armadillo). Jon Snyder (guitar) joined at the beginning of 1974, and
their next single, a cove of the Fats Waller classic "Your Feets Too
Big" came out in February 1974, followed in July by their inimitable
reading of the tango classic "Hernando's Hideaway", a tribute to
another of Mic's idols, Spike Jones . The B-side "Wait For Me Juanita",
written by Mic and Dave Flett, was one of the first original Matchbox
compositions to be released.

Another Conway-Flett original, "Wangaratta Wahine", became the
title track to and first single from the band's breakthrough second
album, which came out at the end of 1974. The LP featured the classic
cover design by cartoonist Michael Leunig which won the award for Album
Cover of the Year in 1974. Assisted by their memorable first appearance
on Countdown,
performing "Wangaratta Wahine", the album became their biggest success,
peaking at #4 on the national charts by August 1975.

During 1975, Fleming and Hales left to be replaced by Chris
Worral (ex-Pelaco Brothers)
and Manny Paterakis (a former member of Armadillo with Dave Flett and
The Ferrets Bill Miller). Mushroom
signed the band after their Image contract expired and issued the
satirical single "Australia" in October 1975 and the album Australia.
Another entertaining mix of originals and covers the album included
songs like "Cocaine Habit", "Sweeny Todd the Barber", Noel Coward's
classic "20th Century Blues" and the Matchbox fan favourite "Masochism
Tango". In keeping with the band's loopy sense of humour, the album
credits listed Mic as "Microphone" Conway and Worral as "Christmas"
Worral.

There were more line-up changes in 1976 with Jack Sara
replacing Olbrei, Graeme Isaac replacing Paterakis, Gordon McLean
replacing Worral, and Jimmy Niven leaving to join the newly formed
Sports. The band's old label, Image, issued the perennial compilation
album Making Whoopee (October 1976), which featured
alternate versions of some of the best tracks from the first two LPs.

Captain Matchbox had a long association with Melbourne's
alternative theatrical scene, notably Melbournes La Mama and Pram
Factory theatres, and in late 1976 this led to the creation of a new
performing entity dubbed Soapbox Circus, which combined the talents of
Matchbox and the Australian Performing Group. By this
time Flett had left (he went on to a stint in Redgum in 1980s) and two
new members, Peter Mulheisen (bass) and Rick Ludbrook (guitar, sax) had
joined. The new group recorded the live album The Great
Stumble Forward at the Pram Factory, the single "If I Can't
Hav-Anna in Cuba" / "Chiropodist Shop", and appeared in the play Smackin'
The Dacks. In 1978 Soapbox Circus evolved into the now
world-famous Circus Oz, of which Mic was a
founding member.

By 1978 the band was known simply as Matchbox with the line-up
now comprising Mic, Jim, Ludbrook, Mulheisen, McLean, Tony Burkys
(guitar, ex-Original Battersea Heroes) and Stephen Cooney (guitar,
later of Redgum), who was replaced by Louis McManus (ex-Bushwackers).
Matchbox released the Slightly Troppo album, and
the delightful single "Sleep" (June 1978), followed by "Love Is Like A
Rainbow" (January 1979), as well as making an appearance in Tim
Burstall's 1979 feature film version of the Jack Hibberd play Dimboola.

By mid-1979, the line-up of the Conways, McManus and
Mulheissen had been augmented by Robert Ross (drums, ex-Manning), Eric
McCusker (guitar) and Chris Coyne (sax, flute). That version of the
band introduced a more rock-oriented sound, but it lasted only about a
year; McCusker left to join Ross Wilson's Mondo Rock and was replaced
briefly by Peter Martin. IN itsw final incarnation as The Matchbox
Band, the group released one last recording, an independent single,
"Juggling Time" / "Dirty Money", before breaking up in September 1980.

After Matchbox ...

The Conway brothers next project was The Hotsie Totsie Band in
1981, Carnival in 1983 and The Conway Brothers Hiccups
Orchestra in 1984. Carnival comprised Mic, Jim, Palz (lead vocals), the
erstwhile Jimmy Niven (ex-Sports), Kim Cook (guitar), Kim Constable
(bass;
ex-Ratbags of Rhythm) and Warwick Kent (drums; ex-Ratbags of Rhythm).
The Hiccups Orchestra issued a self-titled album on Larrikin
in 1987 mixed Thirties and Forties standards with contemporary satire,
and they released the Louis Jordan song "Choo Choo Ch' Boogie" as a
single. After the Hiccups Orchestra folded in 1988, the Conway brothers
pursued separate careers, Jim with The Backsliders and Mic with Mic
Conway's Whoopee Band in 1989.

Although reportedly "ordered" to learn harmonica by Mic in the
founding days of Matchbox, Jim soon developed into one of the most
accomplished and respected blues harmonica players this country has
ever produced, and his stature influence
is openly acknowledged by younger players like Chris Wilson. Over the
years he
has toured with blues legends like Brownie McGhee and he is recognised
worldwide as one of the masters of his craft. In the late 80s Jim was
diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis (MS). As documented in Victor Carsons
superb documentary The Jim Conway Blues (1999) Jim
manages the disease with grace and good humour, and despite being
largely wheelchair-bound these days, he continues to play, notably with
his longtime colleagues The Backsliders, and with Tim
Gaze & The Blues Doctors.

The irrepressible Jim as he appears
in the documentary The Jim Conway Blues

The Backsliders comprises Jim (harmonica), Peter Burgess
(drums, ex-Stumblers) and Dom Turner (guitar, vocals, ex-Stumblers),
and in recent years the band has featured guest players including
Midnight Oils Rob Hirst. The groups hardcore acoustic blues and
R&B style has a strong following; they are regulars at music
festivals around the country and have released seven Albums to date: Preachin'
Blues (1988), Sittin' on a Million
(1989), Hellhound (1991), Live at the
Royal (1992), Wide Open (1995) and the
ten-year collection Downtime (1998). Their most
recent CD Poverty Deluxe features performances by
American blues artist Roy Bookbinder and Cold Chisels Don Walker and
cover art by the legendary Martin
Sharp. The Backsliders music gained considerable national
exposure when three tracks were featured on the soundtrack of the ABCs
hit series Sea Change and the subsequent
compilation CD of music from the series. Jim has also cut one excellent
CD with the Blues Doctors, Blues Licence.

Mic Conway is one of Australia's finest performers and
continues to delight Australians with his inimitable brand of musical
lunacy. He performs for both adult and child audiences and has appeared
widely on TV and film, with credits including The Coca Cola
Kid, Molly, Vietnam, Play School, True Stories, Mr Squiggle, House of
Fun, Vaudeville, Come In Spinner, The Wiggles Movie and Humphrey Bear.
His theatre credits include The Threepenny Opera
for The Sydney Theatre Company and Blossoms and Wrinkles
for the One Extra Dance Company. Mic won an ARIA award for his ABC
album Whoopee, and he has recorded and co-written
numerous CDs, radio shows, TV scripts and children's theatre
productions.

Mic has twice organised the First National Jug
Orchestra where some fifty players from different bands were
organized into sections (jug section, washboard section), each on its
own big band-style rostrum, which played en masse, with Mic doing his
famous fire eating act as part of every performance. Most recently Mic
formed The National Junk Band, successfully touring
their unique mixture of "juggling, tap-dancing, highly infectious
music, hilarious jokes, dazzling magic tricks, fire-eating and much
clowning around and they have recorded two CDs to date: Kitchen
Sink Music and 21st Century Sink.

Matchbox has numerous links to political folk-rock band
Redgum. Four ex-Matchbox members -- Stephen Cooney, Dave Flett, Louis
McManus and Gordon McLean -- served in that band at various times in
the late '70s and early '80s.

Louis McManus was also a member of Noels
Cowards, the 1988 novelty project put together by Split Enz/Schnell
Fenster percussionist Noel Crombie but sadly his performing career has
been curtailed by illness.

Eric McCusker (a one-time student of Blackfeather guitarist
John Robinson) went on to enormous success as guitarist and songwriter
in Ross Wilson's Mondo Rock, penning their 1981 hit
"State Of The Heart", which was also successfully covered in the U.S.
by Rick Springfield.
In 2001 the Long Way to The Top web forum
carried this communique from Eric:

"I'm alive and well and living in
Melbourne still enthused and productive and up to my ears in music. In
the last decade I've been parental as
anything with two kids Mike and Molly aged 8 and 5. Among other things
I
taught music business at the Northern TAFE and worked for the Board of
Studies here as a music examiner for 3 or 4 weeks of the year. I have
also
been a director of APRA for 10 years. But my main thing remains writing
songs and playing guitars and doing gigs. I'm in a fantastic band at
the
moment called "Wolfgram" with 3 Wolfgramm sisters currently playing
Tuesday nights at the Evelyn Hotel in Fitzroy. We are madly writing and
rehearsing songs for an album we are hoping to record early next year.
I've also been doing a few gigs with Ross Wilson this year and there
are more of those coming up between now and the end of the year to
promote his new retrospective album "Now Listen". This year has been
really productive, I've written 9 or 10 songs already, some for other
people, others for an album I would like to record next year. There
have been a few mutterings amongst the Mondo Rock band members about us
getting together and doing something next year too. We'll see what
happens. - Cheers, Eric McCusker

Recently, Eric was part of the reformed Mondo Rock, which got
back together for the "Countdown Spectacular" concert tour.

Peter Muhleisen contacted Milesago
and passed on some invaluable extra information about the Matchbox
lineups, and an update on what some of the members did later:

"Graeme Isaac (1976-7) went on to make
the movie Wrong Side Of The Road.
After the 1980 breakup Peter Martin, Chris Coyne and I went off to form
the Nighthawks with Sam Linton-Smith and Chris Pascoe from the
Honeydrippers, Paul Hitchens from the Sports and Jane Clifton for a
year or two. I also later played with the Rock Doctors, the 'rock and
roll' Falcons retrenched by Joe Camilleri in his disco phase (he took
Coyne and Clifton)."

"Robert Ross joined the Goanna band and had some success there, Coyne
eventually went overseas and became locally famous in a skiffle band in
Barcelona and now lives in Edinburgh. Louis McManus is not well after a
series of strokes ended his playing career. Steve Cooney went to
Ireland and became quite famous ... the Irish loving their eccentrics.
Jack Sara left in 1976 (his next gig was apparently the Hari
Krishnas)."

"Rick Ludbrooke retired to the north coast of NSW and more latterly the
fleshpots of Paris. I have no knowledge of any song to do with Rainbows
(1979 or any other time). The band's last single was "Juggling Time" /
"Dirty Money", of which I have about forty mint copies, and there is a
brilliant live tape recorded by 3RRR in 1979 which may be released soon
as part of a boxed set for Louis. I returned to my previous life as a
mild-mannered pharmacist specialising in methadone (trying to undo the
damage ... nah, only gaggin')."

Thanks to Michael Hunter for additional
discographical information and many thanks Peter Mulheisen
for his invaluable additional information and dates for the members of
the later lineups, and their post-Matchbox exploits.